The pox that saved Harry's childhood
by Herman Elric
Summary: AU!  A seven year old Harry is sick and his relatives don't care.  Will someone be there to help him?  First fanfic! Be gentle! rating because I'm nervous.  Disclamer: i own nothing
1. One: A Bad Friday

Chapter One: A Bad Friday

On number 4 Privit Drive, a tired and skinny boy was walking up the drive and into the front door. This you boys name was Harry Potter. He was seven years old, rather small for his age and had black, mess hair, electric greens and a particular scar on his forehead.

Harry wasn't walking into the house of his parents; however, he was walking into the house of his aunt and uncle, Vernon and Petunia Dursley. His own parents had died in what he thought was a car crash when he was a baby, leaving him with his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. Little did he know that he was the wizarding worlds savior, how stopped a Dark Lord at the small age of one, but that's a different story for a different time.

At the moment however, Harry felt like he wouldn't be saving anyone anytime soon. All day he had felt terrible. He felt as if someone had stuck him in a sauna, making him far too warm. Not only that but his throat was extremely scratchy, and he felt tired and achy all over.

'Thank goodness its Friday,' thought the young Potter, 'Maybe I'll get over this cold by Monday.'

No sooner had he entered the door, however, did a horse-faced, ugly woman with an apron on come bustling into the hall.

"FINALLY!" Aunt Petunia screeched, "Where have you been! Go and start up a snack for Dudders! He is still under the weather."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," said Harry softly. Dudley, Harry's cousin, had come down with a cold a week ago and was completely fine now, but of course Dudley had to milk it for all it was worth.

Hurrying up the steps with the soup, Harry could hear the sound of a TV on and the sounds of a fake battle. Dudley was playing his new video games.

Harry came into the room seeing the same sight he had seen for the past week. Dudley was sitting in his large computer chair playing a game on his new gaming station.

There was a reason the chair had to be large. Dudley was easily four Harry's. He was by far the biggest boy in his and Harry's class. When he came in Dudley turned briefly from his game.

"Oh its you. Just put that there and get out, I'm busy."

After placing the soup on an unread pile of books, Harry departed to get dinner ready for the rest of the family. As he cooked the food, he started to feel worse. The smell of the meat sauce for the spaghetti was making him nauseous and it took all his will power not to throw it out. He knew if he did he would have to face his uncle's anger, something he tried very hard to avoid.

His uncle, Vernon, was a large, beefy man, with no neck. He was as round as he was tall and had a nasty temper when it came to Harry, and because of that fact, Harry tried his best to avoid him at all cost.

Soon, the food was done, and Harry left it to cool on the counter. Knowing that he wouldn't be invited to eat anyways, he decided to go ahead and retire to his cupboard, where he slept.

When he got there, he changed into Dudley's old PJ'S, and tried to fall into a blissful sleep.


	2. Two: Itchy Work

So I decided to go ahead and put this chapter up since it was ready! I'll try to update as much as possible, but I'm busy and may not be able too.

Just to let you know, im not the best speller in the world so tell me if you see something terribly wrong!

Thanks and enjoy!

Chapter Two: Itchy Work

After what felt like no time at all, there was a loud _Rap, Rap, Rap,_ on his cupboard door.

"Get up! Get up you lazy bum and fix breakfast!" yelled Aunt Petunia, her usual morning greeting. As he heard her footsteps retreat, Harry sat up to get ready for the day.

Harry was greeted by a wave of dizziness, and a throb in his temple. His body was even more achy, and his skin felt as if it was stretched over his body.

'So much for sleeping it off,' thought Harry, dryly.

He had to steady himself multiple, but finally he was out of the cupboard and into the kitchen. He made his way to the stove to tend to the bacon, noticing that Dudley had finally decided to come out of his room and was sitting next to Uncle Vernon who was reading the news paper.

He served them both along with himself and state down at the table to eat. He sat and picked at his food not being the least bit hungry, even though he had nothing to eat for dinner the day before.

"Stop picking at your food, boy," said Vernon, tersely, "If you're done, come get your chores list and start working!"

After throwing away his uneaten food, and hurried to see what he would be doing for the day.

"Since it has finally stopped raining," his uncle said, "you will be working outside. I want everything on this list done by the time I come home, understand?"

"Yes, sir"

"Good now go get started."

Quickly leaving the kitchen, Harry went into the backyard and read through the list.

Cut the grass

Mulch the flower beds

Weed the garden

Plant all the flowers in the shed

After reading the list, Harry set off to work in the mid-September heat wanting nothing more than to go back to bed.

As the day wore, Harry, not thinking it was even possible, started to feel even worse. His skin felt taunt and dry and as he weeded and planted the gardens, sweat settled into the small of his back making it itch as he worked. Whenever he indulged in scratching it, however, it seemed impossible to stop. The more he scratched the more it itched until, finally, he felt some relief.

When he finished, he felt much warmer than usual, sweaty and itchy. He was happy to find when he came inside, that the rest of the Dursley's had already sat down to eat. Not surprised they had not set a place for him, Harry put some turkey and potatoes on a plate and went to sit down. When Harry sat down at the table, he rubbed the top of his pants around to relieve the itch on his waist. He soon found too that it made his back itch even more when he leaned on the chair, so he was forced to sit on the edge on his chair.

"What are you doing, stop fidgeting!" hollered his aunt, the first and only person in his family to even seem to notice that he was at the table, "Hurry up and finish eat and take a shower! You look disgusting."

"Fidgeting" was harder to stop then Aunt Petunia thought though. His back was itching even worse than before and he had no way of scratching it. Subconsciously scratching his left forearm, Harry hurried though his food, even if his stomach did not completely agree, and hurried to the shower, hoping the hot water would relieve the itchy skin.

His hopes where conformed, for as he stood in the warm water, the itching receded a little and he realized how _**hot**_ he was. It wasn't from the water, though, he just felt warm and clammy. He resisted the urge to make the water cold because of how much it was relieving his itchy skin.

He got out of the shower and started rubbing himself dry. This action made the itching in his lower back and now arm come back ten-fold, and he continued to rub the towel on his back and left forearm. When he finally felt some relief, he looked down at his arm and saw something strange. Behind the red of the abused skin, he saw a small red bump with a point of green in it. Suspicious, he turned around and looked at his back in the mirror. Just like he thought, the small of his back had at least five of the little dots, a few along his waist line, and a few spread up alone the rest of his back. He looked down and saw one on his belly as well.

'Strange,' he thought, scratching the slightly itchy bump on his belly, 'these are causing the itching. Must have been bitten by a bug or something….'

Harry knew what this meant. He had to stop scratching in front of his aunt. The last time he had an itchy bite on his next, he got in trouble for scratching it. He had been sent to his cupboard for the whole day because he kept forgetting not to scratch it. He had been five then, but the thought of sitting in his cupboard for the whole day was still not appealing. So, making a pact not to scratch a single bump, Harry headed out of the bathroom, haven gotten into his PJ's while he was thinking.

He made his way into his cupboard, and laid down. As he fell asleep, he just hoped above else that this cold and bug bites would go way as fast as possible.


	3. Three: Never Ending Sundays

Hello all! Just finished the chapter and wanted to thank you all for favoriteing me and reviewing! The chapters my start being updated less and less because I'm getting busier, but keep faith! I'll update the moment I am able! Again, just wanted to remind you, if you find something grammatically wrong or misspelled my apologies!

Thank you and enjoy!

Chapter 3: Never Ending Sundays

When he woke up the next morning, Harry was aware of two things, he was extremely hot and the itchiness had gotten worse. When he became more aware, he realized the he was already scratching his left arm. He looked down and he saw that there were small red dots with purple inside of it.

When he was fully conscious, Harry took inventory of the where it itched. His back, which he say last night had a few spots, now itched two times as much as last night. He looked at his belly and instead of one dot there were now four, but far exceeding all the other hot, itchy spots his waist and small of the back were the worst. Not being able to see that part of his back or waist, he used his fingers to feel for the bumps and counted.

16. There were 16 dots all along the small of his back and waist. All together, there were 22 bumps. That meant that these bug bites ('Or more likely rash' Harry thought) had spread from about 14 bumps to 22 over night. Not all the spots were itchy, but Harry knew it would only be a matter of time. As he inspected himself, Harry noticed a strange pattern. He noticed that the spots that didn't itch where plain pink, ones that itched a little had a green dot, and ones that itched continuously had a purple dot.

Before he could examine the spots much further though, his aunt decided it was time to make an appearance.

"Get up!" _Rap Rap Rap _"Get up! There is work to be done!"

Stifling a soft moan, Harry forced his achy, itchy, and too warm body out of bed. Working past a wave of dizziness that tried to overtake him, he rummaged though is small pile of cloths and put some on. The feeling of the too big cloths on his body felt terrible. The shirt two sizes to big draped and rubbed against his shoulder blades and caused a tickle to go though some bumps lying there, and whenever the fabric touched anywhere near the bottom of his back, the itch that was already there doubled. The pants weren't so bad. There were no bumps on his legs yet so that wasn't a problem, and the top of his pants on his waist helped scratch the itchiest spots and give him temporary relief.

Vowing to himself to not let the Dursley's see his discomfort, Harry left his cupboard and went to the kitchen. Twisting his pants already as he walked in, he saw that Uncle Vernon, Dudley, and Aunt Petunia were all waiting for him to serve them.

"What took you so bloody long, boy?" Uncle Vernon grunted, "Give us our food!"

"Yes, sir," replied Harry raspy. He had just noticed that his throat was raw as well, and it hurt to speak. He coughed a couple times into his elbow and started to serve his relatives. By the time Dudley got his share, there was barley any food left for Harry, but he didn't mind much. His stomach felt queasy and he doubted he could swallow much.

When he sat down, the waist of his pants became no help. In fact, it was starting to make his waist and lower back itch even more. His shirt was so big that he sat on it as well making his shoulders tickle and start an itch that was nonexistent a few minutes before.

Harry started forcing the food down his raw throat as fast as possible so he could stand up and leave. Once he was down, he cleared the table and went to his uncle for his chores list, twisting the belt of his pants as he went.

"As I'm sure you can see," his uncle started, "it's going to rain outside. The things that I want you to do are today will be indoors. Here's the list and don't get in your Aunts way. And if you pants don't fit, stop moving them around and make you belt tighter!"

With that, his uncle departed leaving Harry to read the list that he had just given him.

Polish the Wood

Clean the Dishes

Clean the Bathroom

Wash the Windows

Happy that the list wasn't too bad, Harry set off to work, carefully moving as to not aggravate his skin further.

The day was agonizingly slow. He was glad for a distraction from his misery, but if he brushed his back in anyway, he was instantly reminded. At one point when he was cleaning the bathroom, Dudley came in and pushed him from behind, making his back haunt him for hours.

As the day rolled on, Harry noticed the bumps start to spread. There was one on the back of his left knee now, and one just under his jaw. The one under his jaw worried him. He was afraid that his family would notice it. Luckily, you couldn't see it unless you knew where it was and it was still just pink, it was pretty camouflaged.

By the time he was done with his chores, Harry was completely and utterly miserable. He was not only itchy, but there was a sharp pain in his temple, and he felt hot and cold at the same time. His throat was sore and raw because the cleaner he had to lose made him cough, and now he seemed to be coughing every few minutes. For once, he didn't mind that his family ignored him at dinner, leaving him to hurry though his dinner and clean his plate. Sadly, he had to wait for the whole family to finish, since one of his chores was to clean the dishes. Seeing that he was anxious to leave, Dudley took as long as possible. Harry sat on the edge of his seat, and started scratching his jaw. He didn't even notice, but the action wasn't missed by his aunt.

"What are you doing?" asked Aunt Petunia.

Just realizing what he was doing, Harry put his hand down and mentally kicked himself.

"No-nothing Aunt Petunia," he said hastily, coughing when he finished.

"Well, stop just sitting around and clean the dishes! You have 10 minutes and then I want you in your cupboard!"

"Yes, ma'am," said Harry as he picked up all the plates and put them in the sink to start. After hastily scrubbing the plates, silverware, and cups clean for seven minutes, Harry raced upstairs to look in the bathroom mirror at his appearance. After shutting the door and locking it, Harry took is shirt off and looked at himself. There were now 6 spots on his belly. Four had the purple dot and one had a green dot, and one was just pink. He looked at his jaw and he saw the new spot there had green in it and there seemed to be a pink one on the collar of his neck. He then turned around and looked at his back.

It looked just as bad as it felt. There were 10 bumps just on the small of his back and they were so bright purple they almost glowed. There were about 12 on his waist and they were just as bright purple. There were also multiple spots spreading up his back, the majority spotted green but others still pink. It started to get bad again at his shoulders and in between his shoulder blades. There were about 7 on both shoulders and 9 around his shoulder blades but they were all green except for a couple on his shoulders.

Right as he finished his inventory there was a jingle on the door, followed by a hard knock.

"Boy, are you in here?" called Uncle Vernon.

'Oh, no!' Harry thought, 'I must have lost track of time!'

Throwing his shirt on as quickly as possible, Harry called a hasty "Coming Uncle!" and opened the door.

His uncle stood there, looking red in the face and angry.

"Do you know how long its been?" said Vernon dangerously quiet, "Twenty minutes. What could you possibly be doing around this house, unaccounted for, for twenty minutes?"

"I- I was just-"

"I don't care!" yelled Vernon, grabbing Harry by the shoulder and dragging him painfully from the bathroom.

"You will learn to do as your told!" Harry was then dropped into his cupboard, given a swift kick in and then locked in the darkness.

Not bothering to even get in PJ's, Harry climbed into bed, not looking forward to the next Monday.


	4. Four: Helpful Monday's

**A/N:** Hellllllllllo everyone! I finally got to respond! Thank you everyone for following and I hope to update sooner next time! My OC comes in during this chapter! His name is Steven and I hope you like him.

**Albfic**: Your going to like Steven!

**Snickerdoodle Black: **Thanks for the honesty! Its exactly what I need and I appreciate it!

_~Enjoy~_

Chapter 4: Helpful Monday's

Harry Potter was the only child, or person for that matter, who enjoyed Mondays. They were a way to get away from his relatives and to be by himself for a while. He always had a spring in his step as he walked into school.

Today, however, was an exception. As he walked into the front doors of his school, Harry was hot, sore, itchy, and was drooped over himself like a wilting flower. The soreness was not from the illness, however, but from the night before when he had been kicked by his Uncle, leaving a purpling bruise on his torso. Over the night, however, his cough had gotten worse and all the way to school his elbow had been glued over his mouth. He also felt too hot and too cold and, mostly, itchy all over. His legs were now littered with pink marks. The bumps on his waist and the small of his back were now neon blue, and most of the others were either bright purple or green. Overall, Harry was absolutely miserable. He was happy for his backpack, which scratched his shoulder and middle of his back, but it did nothing in between his shoulder blades, which were turning to pure agony. His pant line was helping him scratch his waist and lower back, and when his arm was up to his face from coughing, Harry scratched his jaw.

Even with his semi-efficient method, he was pretty miserable. Even the aspect of being out of the Dursley household for most of the day didn't hold much pleasure. He had woken to his aunts screeching in a daze, and apparently he looked just as bad as he felt because his uncle made the comment of not to "look dead" all day. The walk to school didn't even wake him up and as he walk thought the halls of his school, Harry felt as if he would fall over asleep any moment. He didn't know how he was going to get though the day. For once, Harry was happy that no one seemed to pay attention to him.

oOo

Steven Wells was a simple man. He alone lived happily in a one bedroom apartment, was single, and worked as the school nurse. Oh yeah, and he was a wizard. He had been stationed at Harry Potter's Elementary School to protect him where the wards of his relative's house could not reach. These last few years had been uneventful, but Steve had gotten to know the Potter boy very well. It seemed that if his cousin or his friends weren't beating up Harry, he had accidently hurt himself, coming in for gauze or band-aids almost every other day. Something always felt off about these visits.

It wasn't that Harry was rude or unpleasant; it was just that the boy acted strange. He was extremely quiet for a seven-year-old and extremely polite, even though that was hardly anything to complain about it was just….strange.

Just as he was contemplating this, Steve say a mess of black hair enter his office. He looked at the clock. Only 11:34. The poor boy couldn't even get though half a day without getting some injury.

"Hello there Harry! What can I do for you?" Steve called smiling down at the boy.

"My teacher sent me down here for a cough drop because I was interrupting class," rasped Harry, coughing into his elbow as evidence. He was also paler than normal, with a layer of cold sweat on his face, and kept fidgeting around. These facts weren't lost on the 28 year old wizard.

"You feel quite warm Harry!" Steven said, with his hand on the boy's forehead. Harry quickly backed away and looked up at the tall man.

"It's nothing sir, I'm fine," Harry said quietly, twisting his pants around to rub his waist.

Then Steven looked closer at Harry. He could barley distinguish small pink dots on the boys neck and hands and a dot with a neon blue dot in the middle. Steven immediately recognized these spots as wizard pox. The wizard pox was the same virus as the muggle's Chicken pox, only wizard pox showed itself differently in each witch and wizard. Harry, for example, showed his pox by unconsciously making them multi-colored and neon.

'Poor kid,' Steven thought, as he watched Harry rub his long sleeves up and down his arm, 'He looks pretty miserable.'

"Harry," said Steven gently, still making the boy jump when he realized that he was being addressed, "I think you have a fever. Let me get a thermometer and go sit down on the cot in the back room."

"Yes, sir," said Harry, perplexed that it seemed that Steven was going to help him.

As Harry went to the back, Steven went to a shelf he held all his muggle supplies and got a thermometer and some cough drops. He also stopping on his way to the back room to grab and anti-itching potion that he kept in a drawer just in case anything like this ever happened.

He came in to find Harry scratching his neck and jaw, not even to notice what he was doing.

"Harry please try not to scratch,"

Walking back in a few minutes later with arms filled with disguised potions, Steven found Harry harshly coughing into his elbow. After the coughing had receded, he handed Harry a Muggle cough drop (the only thing that Steven deemed a respectable muggle cure).

"So Harry, you wouldn't happen to know your Aunts phone number would you? I don't want to have to look though all the files if I can"

However, upon even mentioning his Aunt, Harry began to panic and stutter, causing him to go into a coughing fit. This sudden outburst made Steven think that he may have missed something.

"Ok Harry calm down its fine we don't have to call her just yet. Let me take you temperature really fast." Seeing the temperature was 103° F, which worried him

"If its ok, I'm going to have to ask you a few questions about how you feel. I'm going to need you to answer me honestly ok?"

"Ok," said Harry though his cough drop, "I'll try my best."

"Ok, first tell me when this first started? What I mean to say is when did you start feeling bad?"

Harry then went into detail about starting to feel bad last Friday, then noticing itchy spots Saturday, and finally becoming unbearably itchy Sunday followed with a cough.

"Have you noticed the lights inside of your spots?" asked Steven.

"Yes I have," replied Harry, "I noticed that the pinks ones don't itch, the green ones a little, the purple ones itch badly, and the blue ones are the worst of all."

"Thank you very much Harry. Now, if you don't mind, would you take off your shirt so I can see exactly how many spots you have?"

"Why do you have to do that? I just told you what was wrong," Harry said in a panicked voice.

"You see Harry, I need you to so I can see exactly what medicines I need to give you and hopefully stop some of the itching." Steven said in a calm voice, Harry's panic sending red flags up in his head.

With the sound of no itchiness bringing bliss to Harry's mind, he reluctantly lifted and took off his shirt exposing a torso covered in multi-colored dots and a big purple bruise.

"Harry what is this? Where did you get this bruise?"

"Playing with Dudley….." Harry said nervously, scratching his chest absentmindedly.

Deciding that this discussion could wait a few more minutes, Steven got the anti-itching potions out and instructed Harry to lie on his back. Harry's belly and chest was littered with a few green dots, multiple purple dots, and several neon blue dots. After putting the potion on Harry's chest, arms, and belly had dried, Steven inspected the boys back. It was practically covered in spots. Mostly blue spots covered the small of his back and purple basically everywhere else. He covered the boys back, then his face and neck. He immediately saw the boy relax and saw his eyelids drop.

"Go ahead and rest Harry," Steven said, gently.

"…Kay…" Harry said, tiredly.

"If you need me, I'll be in the next room. I need to make a few phone calls…."

**A/N:** O NOZ! Whats going to happen! I'll try to update faster next time! Hope you enjoyed :)


	5. Five: The One To Help

**AN: Ok so I have not posted in a really long time…..and I am REALLY SORRY! I hope you like this chapter and feel free to yell at me for be so incredibly late.**

Chapter 5: The One To Help

Petunia Dursley didn't like a lot of things. She didn't like being late. She didn't like it when she burned her food. She didn't like a single speck on her good china. The one thing she could not stand, however, was her nephew, Harry Potter. He reminded her of all the things she wasn't. She wasn't special like Lily, she wasn't pretty like Lily, she wasn't a witch like Lily. And the annoying brat Potter reminded her of these facts every day. He was unnecessary, and a burden. Everything that happened to him was his own fault and she felt no reason why she would have to help him. She wasn't stupid. She noticed how he had been acting the past few days. How he seemed uncomfortable and slightly feverish, but why should she care? It wasn't her fault if he caused something bad to happen to himself. It didn't concern her and she would just rather ignore it, thank you very much.

However, this plan failed when she got a call from her son and nephews school. She picked up at once (something could be wrong with Duddy!) but all the information she got from the nurse was that one of the boys was sick and that she needed to come to the school to take him home. Rushing out the door, Petunia all but ran down the road to the school.

oOo

Once Steven left Harry to sleep, he sat in this desk chair and thought of what to do next. That bruise on Harry was obviously not from playing. It was almost in the shape of a boot and Steven hated to think that Harry had been getting abused right under his nose. Finally making up his mind, Steven grabbed his owl (who was in the tree outside, just for emergencies) and sent a short note to Albus, explaining the situation. After Alistair (his owl) was out of sight, he found the Dursley's home number and waited for an answer.

"Hello?" came a curt greeting for who Steven suspected to be Petunia Dursley.

"Ah, yes is this Mrs. Dursley?" asked Steven trying to be polite.

"Yes, and who is this?"

"My name is Steven; I am the nurse at the school your family attends. I am afraid that one of the boys is sick and needs to be picked up immediately," said Steven, leaving out it was Harry; just in case his suspicions were true.

"I am on my way, tell Duddy mummy's coming!" said Petunia hurriedly, hanging up her phone before Steven could say that it was actually Harry who was sick.

Sighing, Steven sat back and waited for the Dursley woman to arrive.

oOo

Harry was comfortable and happy. He was lying in a soft bed, the softest bed he had ever been on before. He was so content, for a moment he didn't even know what had woken him. Then, as if his mind was being read, he heard what must have woken him. The shrill voice of his panicked aunt.

"Where is he?" she was asking, demanding. "Where is Dudley?!"

"Mrs. Dursley," he heard the voice of Mr. Wells say, "Please calm down, Harry is resting in the back room."

It became quiet. "The reason you called was because of…._Harry_?" Harry heard his aunt say, in a strangely calm, but sharp voice.

"Yes Mrs. Dursley," Steven said bravely, "Harry is sick and needs to be taken home. I am told you know of wiz-," but before he could even finish his sentence Petunia screeched "DON'T SAY IT!"

Harry gasped, causing him to go into a coughing fit. As he sat up to breathe easier, Steven walked into the room, followed by Petunia who just stayed in the doorway.

"I see your up Harry," Steven said gently, feeling his forehead happy to feel that his fever hadn't risen, but unfortunately also hadn't gotten any lower.

"Yes sir," said Harry, sleepily, "Hello Aunt Petunia," he added, hesitantly.

She looked him up and down, taking note of the flushed red spots on his cheeks and purple splotches that could only be some kind of anti-itching cream. His unruly bangs were stuck to his forehead and he was looking at her nervously, fidgeting and rubbing at his legs.

"Harry has a disease similar to chicken pox in…muggles. However, if I am correct, this strain is only contagious for other wizards," Steven said nervously, not wanting another outburst to upset Harry. "Given the severity of the illness, he may need a week or quite possibly even more to recover."

"I don't know what you expect me to do," said Petunia, rudely. "My husband has dinner guests coming over tonight, so if you don't mind I would like to leave now. Come on," she said to Harry impatiently waving her hand at him to get him up and moving.

However, Steven stood up before Harry got off the bed calmly told Harry to wait a couple of minutes and led Petunia out of the room, closing the door.

"Mrs. Dursley, you don't seem to realize that you have a sick and miserable boy in that room," said Steven, whispering fiercely.

"Of course I realize," Petunia whispered back. "I just don't see what the big deal is he will be fine at home."

"Are you aware that Harry has a giant bruise on his stomach?" Steven blurted out, no longer able to restrain himself.

Petunia paused and her eyes grew wide. She did in fact know what he was speaking of. He had heard Vernon lose his temper and kick the boy, and now she did not know what to say.

"From your silence, I see that you do in fact know what I am talking of," Steven said stiffly. "In that case I cannot on a good conscience send him home with you. That bruise is very much a sign of abuse and I can only think that Harry has been neglected given the fact that he is now so sick. I am part of a group of wizards, known as the Order of the Phoenix, who are at this moment protecting Harry," He continued noticing how tense Petunia was getting and how she was nervously looking around like she was making sure no one else was listening to their conversation. "I have already notified the head of this group, and now I think I will be taking Harry into my custody, until plans can be made as to what will be done with you." At these words, Petunia paled and Steven knew it was not because of worry for her nephew. "Now, I suggest that you get out of my office. I have your number and I will contact you when this situation can be resolved," but before he left, he look Petunia right in the eye and said, "How can you be so cruel to this boy? His parents gave you so much credit and even love, yet you give him so little." He turned around and walked into the room holding Harry, closing the door behind him. Petunia stared after him, momentarily stunned, before turning around and leaving herself.

oOo

After Steven left the room, Harry got up and after steadying himself went to the door and strained to hear the conversation going on the other side. The conversation confused him. Why was Mr. Wells helping him so much? Did he know his parents? What was the Order of the Phoenix? Why was he talking about wizards? The whole situation was making his head hurt so he just went and sat back down on the bed. That is where Steven found him after his talk with Petunia, sitting on the cot scratching his legs by rubbing the denim up and down.

"Sorry about that Harry," he said gently. "Your aunt had to leave so I am going to take you to my home for a while, is that ok?"

Harry looked at him uncertainly. His teachers had always taught him to never go home with anyone but family members and friends, but Mr. Wells was different. He seemed like he was trying to help him and he even seemed to know his parents. So what was he to do?

"Ok," he said carefully getting off the bed and heading towards his backpack.

"It's ok Harry I got that," said Steven while grabbing his pack, "and please do not scratch, you will make it worse." Taking the hand that Harry was using to scratch at his leg and walking out of his office.

**Reviews are always appreciated!:)**


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